CES 2009: Myvu Video Glasses Show Trend Building

A few years back the idea of using video glasses to watch content while on the move seemed ridiculous - but for those who got in early the benefits are beginning to appear…

The Vuzix Wrap 920AV showed last week just how far the format has come and with nearest rival Myvu also slimming things down and attracting a surprisingly huge amount of attention at its booth it seems people are slowly converting.

The company showed off its new flagship 'Crystal' model and while not as discrete as the 920AV, in use it does offer excellent contrast and vivid colours despite its VGA native resolution which appears to be a common sticking point for this technology at present. With four hours of battery life at a time however the stamina is pretty good.

Like Vuzix's approach, the Crystal happily works with all Apple products and any phone/MP3 player with a line out jack - so pretty much everything is covered. A neat control pad on the cable also allows viewing to be paused, rewound and fast forwarded and the volume adjusted - a handy shortcut allowing you to keep your device in your pocket.

Launching this quarter, the Myvu Crystal is fairly pricey at $299.95 as video glasses remain an infant technology but they represent yet another step in the right direction. Furthermore with the Sony video glasses looking so very poor in its keynote it looks like the benefit to smaller companies of getting in quickly will give them a significant advantage over the megacorporates - well, at least until they get bought anyhow…